Five detectives arrested for manipulating crime statistics

Five police detectives have been arrested over allegations that statistics
were manipulated to meet crime detection targets.

Police were called to four incidents involving suspected contaminated amphetamine, also known as 'whizz'Photo: ALAMY

By Rosa Silverman

6:30AM GMT 15 Nov 2012

Four men and one woman, all believed to be officers from Kent Police, were detained on Monday accused of persuading suspects to admit to other, undetected crimes they had not committed in order to improve the unit’s performance figures.

These other crimes are then labelled “taken into consideration” (TIC).

TICs are estimated to account for more than a third of all burglaries solved.

The officers arrested in an anti-corruption investigation in Kent were a detective inspector, detective sergeant and three detective constables, The Times reported.

A Kent Police spokesman said: "Five people arrested in Maidstone on Monday over allegations of administrative irregularity in the way prisoners have been dealt with have been released on police bail."

No further comment concerning these allegations has been given by Kent police at this time.

The arrests came just before the elections for police and crime commissioners (PCCs), which take place around the country today.

The front-runners in the Kent PCC election said they were shocked.

Ann Barnes, an independent candidate, said: “If this proves true, I am horrified. If I am elected PCC there will be a full investigation and no stone will be left unturned. This is a matter of trust. You have to be able to trust your police.”

Craig McKinlay, the Conservative candidate, said that if he was elected he would conduct a wholesale review of police data quality and collection.

He said: “This puts the whole diet of crime figures and detection rates into question.” A PCC will be elected for each of the 41 English and Welsh police forces outside of London.

They will replace existing police authorities, control police budgets and be able to hire and fire chief constables.

But there are fears the new system could descend into chaos because two thirds of the candidates have no experience of policing issues but will have to begin drawing up budgets within weeks of starting the job.